


a new day has begun ;

by cinus



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Amnesia AU, M/M, Temporary Amnesia, do i know the proper amount of time these events took in the movie? no but i tried my best, far too many fire analogies, movie spoilers obviously, set post-movie, tfw ur first dates are just u trying to recover ur boyf's memories smh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-23 01:02:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21311530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinus/pseuds/cinus
Summary: It has been a week and a day since the Mad Burnish attack on the Foresight Pharmaceuticals building. It has been sixteen hours since the two of them — a Burnish leader with the urge to scorch the planet to dust and a firefighter with a burning soul and the need to protect from flames - freed the Promare, stopped the Burnish and saved the world.Lio has no memory of any of this.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 7
Kudos: 146





	a new day has begun ;

It has been a week and a day since the Mad Burnish attack on the Foresight Pharmaceuticals building. It has been a week and a day since Galo Thymos captured their leader, Lio Fotia, and brought the so called terrorist group to justice. It has been eighteen hours since Lio burst from the mouth of a volcano and scorched Promepolis. It has been sixteen hours since the two of them — a Burnish leader with the urge to scorch the planet to dust and a firefighter with a burning soul and the need to protect from flames - freed the Promare, stopped the Burnish and saved the world.

It has been fifteen hours since Lio and Galo stood on the crashed remains of the Parnassus and bumped fists as the sun rose on a new dawn, a new day, a new future for humanity. It has been fourteen hours since they made their way to the Burning Rescue HQ and passed out.

Lio has no memory of any of this.

△ △ △

Lio’s eyes open and he sees an unfamiliar room — too much yellow and red for his liking — and an unfamiliar body next to him. Lio takes a deep breath and feels an unfamiliar sensation. He feels nothing. There is no longer an infinite voice in his mind, in his heart, in his _soul_ begging him to just burn with all he can. There is no heat coursing through his veins, no fire bubbling up in his blood and he feels that if he was to hurt himself — now that he thinks about it, why does his body ache so _much_— that he would not heal as he is so used to doing.

He jumps up, kicking these unfamiliar sheets off of his body which rouses the man next to him who sits upright almost immediately, his blue hair sticking up at entirely ridiculous angles.

“Lio?!” the man yells and it echoes in the room, but Lio has no idea who he is or how he would know his name, not many people know his name since he is the leader of a terrorist group after all, “is everything alright?!”

“Who are you?” Lio says back. “How do you know my name?”

The man blinks twice and cocks his head to one side like a dog. “Well it’s me, the Universe’s number 1 firefighting idiot of course,” he laughs and looks at Lio as if he expected him to understand a single word of what was being said.

Lio merely blinks twice in response.

“Lio, come on, it’s Galo, we fought Kray Foresight together in this giant robot suit and-” he flexes as he talks, but none of it registers in Lio’s brain as he stands and cuts him off.

“Kray Foresight,” Lio says, his voice dripping with burning hatred and he wonders where that voice in his head that feeds his anger has gone. “I have to kill him, I have to save my people from him. I don’t know who you are but you need to get out of my way, this is Mad Burnish business.”

If he didn’t know any better, Lio would say the man opposite him almost looked sad.

“Lio, the Promare are gone. The Burnish are normal people again. You helped save them, don’t you remember any of this?”

Lio doesn’t.

Maybe that is why he feels so cold and empty inside.

△ △ △

What follows after Lio’s revelation is best described as a fire storm. The Burning Rescue don’t have any sort of medic on staff, so they do the next best thing and call Aina’s sister for help, and as she walks through the door Lio balls his fists in rage because while he doesn’t seem to know much about this current situation, he knows what she did to the Burnish. He knows how much blood is on her hands.

“Lio, what is the last thing you remember?” she asks, her voice soft as if she is asking him for forgiveness that he just cannot give.

He pauses for a second, the room silent except for Galo’s constant pacing just a few steps behind him. “I remember planning to hit the Foresight Pharmaceuticals building with Meis and Guiera.” His eyes widen for a moment as the words leave his mouth, how did he forget them?

“They’re fine, you don’t have to worry about them, you can see them soon.” Heris says as she shoots a glance at Galo and the two of them walk out of earshot, leaving Lio sitting alone on the bench in which he has now learnt is the Burning Rescue HQ with more questions than answers, and a slight shake to his hands.

△ △ △

“It’s because of the Promare,” she says and her shoulders drop, “Lio was the strongest Burnish and he used his abilities the most, his body was almost reliant on them, hence why losing them has made him lose his memories associated with what led up to this happening.”

“Well, just tell him everything he’s missed then, problem solved right?” Galo says almost immediately as they step outside.

Heris sighs, Aina sure wasn’t wrong when describing what Galo is like, “That risks his own stability far too much, the loss of his memories is a defence mechanism of his brain and to tell him everything at once would be too much and may even make it worse.”

“What do I need to do?”

“You need to try and kickstart his memories, take him to places that were important over the last week, nudge him in the right direction and hope they come back. Let him piece it together himself, he doesn’t know he knows you, so he has no reason to trust you and what you say.”

“And if they don’t come back?” Galo asks, surprising himself with how sad that concept makes him.

All Neris can muster in response is a weak smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.

△ △ △

Honestly, Galo is shocked to see Lio still there when they come back even though it was only five minutes they were gone. Heris is right, he thinks, Lio doesn’t know him — Galo ignores the dull ache in his chest — like Galo knows him, Lio has no reason to have stayed in their kitchen on the bench. But he stayed, and that’s what counts, that’s what gives Galo faith in the fact that this can be fixed, and Lio will get his memories back and then — well, Galo doesn’t know what then, but a small part of him hopes he will be around for that too.

“Lio!” he calls, waving his hand and motioning towards his bike resting against the open doors. “We’re going on a trip, hop on!”

Lio hops down from the bench, his landing making the tiniest thud against the concrete floor as he walks towards Galo, “I have my own bike, it’s -” His sentence trails off as nothing materialises in front of him, and instead of the burn in his soul, there is a burning behind his eyes and he blinks it away, begrudgingly taking a seat behind Galo on his bike.

If Galo noticed the tremor in Lio’s hands, he doesn’t mention it.

If Lio noticed the goosebumps spreading across Galo’s skin like a wildfire as Lio wraps his arms around his waist, he doesn’t mention it.

△ △ △

First, they drive to the burnt out Foresight Pharmaceutical’s building and take the one elevator that is somehow still functioning to the roof. Scattered around them lie parts of mech suits — the Matoi gear, specifically, inspired by Eastern firefighters as Galo rambles off as they walk around the scorched rooftop leaving footprints in the ash, the faint smell of smoke still lingers in the air around them.

Galo remembers this day well, he thinks he always will. Lio on the other hand, frowns slightly, looks like he is trying to work out an equation with only half the variables.

“You were up there,” Galo calls out, pulling Lio out of his thoughts and points towards the very top of the building. “You, Meis and Guiera were all up there on fire, and I was down here!” 

Galo starts to reenact what happened that day, taking on the roles of Meis and Guiera as he darts around the roof, telling Lio exactly where he should stand and gives him what feel like stage directions.

That’s what all this feels like to Lio, a stage show, and he is but an actor. None of this feels real, none of this feels like it was ever real. He can see the marks left from a Burnish flame, he sees the burnt out building beneath his feet and yet he wonders if he ever made it here. Even when Galo takes him to the very edge — he’s not even sure how many stories up they are, but he knows it’s a deadly amount for him now — and throws a plank of wood at him and tells him to spar like they did the first time, nothing comes back. 

He has never been here before, and he tells Galo that.

If Lio noticed the way Galo’s shoulders drop as he says that he doesn’t mention it.

If Galo noticed the way Lio stares down off the edge for just a few seconds too long as they go to leave he doesn’t mention it.

△ △ △

Next, they head to a cave, past what used to be a lake that had frozen over, metres of seemingly endless ice that is now replaced with a crystal blue lake, the evening wind causing waves to travel across the surface and crash into the shoreline like a never ending series of fire fronts. Lio wonders if jumping in that water would snuff him out, but Galo speeds past so quickly he would have no chance of testing his idea.

“Why did you bring me to a cave in the middle of nowhere?” Lio asks, kicking at a small bundle of rope against the wall as Galo attempts to make a small campfire — something he is only doing after much protest, Lio had offered to start the fire but, well, he doesn’t actually know how to do that, he never had to learn.

“I found you here, again, after you and the Burnish broke free. You told me to remember your name, Lio Fotia.”

Lio makes a noncommittal noise as a reply, while he did plan on breaking the Burnish out, he never did it. He feels like he is just taking credit for someone else's work, he never did any of the things that Galo is saying and if this is some ploy by the Foundation to get something out of him he has no idea what they are going for.

For a moment, he wonders if he has died, and this is his hell. He doesn’t think he’d make it to heaven, if one even existed, let alone for the Burnish. 

Galo’s voice snaps him out of his introspection, “There was a woman, as well, she seemed young and had purple hair.”

A cog turns in Lio’s head, he remembers her, she had been around as long as he had. “That would be Thyma, where is she?”

“She, uh,” Galo runs a hand through his hair, suddenly regretting bringing this up. “She didn’t make it, you tried your best but it still wasn’t enough.”

“Ashes to ashes.” Lio says bitterly, shoves his hands into the pockets of his pants so Galo can’t see them shake.

They sit there in silence for a while, the orange flame flickering in between them and lighting the walls of the cave, casting bold shadows against the wall that jump with the flicker of the flame.

To Galo, he feels bad having lit this in the first place, decides he will make sure it is totally out before they even think of leaving here. But as he looks towards Lio on the other side, who is gazing absently into the flames — and how the light bounces off his hair, casts shadows on his face, paints him an almost heavenly glow — he feels uneasy in his stomach, and he can’t take his eyes off of the man in front of him. Thinking it must be hunger, he heads out to grab some food, but notices the feeling lingers even after he has eaten. His cheeks suddenly feel like red hot coals as Lio looks up with the closest thing to embarrassment he’s seen so far and meets his gaze.

Is this what burning feels like? Galo decides he doesn’t like it.

To Lio, this fire looks so foreign, so alien to him. He is used to malleable flames, burning pink and green, a comforting warmth. When Galo leaves to retrieve some food from his bike, Lio’s instincts take over and he moves his hand forward, reaching out towards these new flames as if he was greeting an old friend, and instead he is met with a sharp sting, an unfamiliar pain shooting up his arm. He looks up at Galo, because looking at the fire is only dangerous, his hand raw and tender, the nerve endings firing at a rapid pace.

Is this what burning feels like? Lio decides he doesn’t like it.

If Galo noticed the angry red welt on the palm of Lio’s hand, he doesn’t mention it.

If Lio noticed the blush spreading across Galo’s face when their eyes met, he doesn’t mention it.

△ △ △

They head home after that — well, to Galo’s. Lio doesn’t have a place yet but Galo has a spare couch and a feeling in his soul that he doesn’t want them to be apart — because it is almost midnight, and despite waking up late in the afternoon the two of them agree they are exhausted and they will continue this another time. Lio thinks this whole endeavour is fruitless, but for some reason he is willing to go through these motions for Galo, he is not sure why and he doesn’t have the energy to think too much about it now.

The first thing Lio notices walking into Galo’s place is that it is very, _very_ cold. 

The first thing Galo notices when he gets home is that he did a rubbish job cleaning up before he left last, a week ago now. His mail has piled up, most of his groceries have gone off and the same two shirts have been hanging out to dry, turned a few shades later by the constant sunlight.

Not much is said, they go about their night trying to stay out of each other's way. Lio doesn’t want to intrude, and still not fully sure who Galo is — he is slowly realising that his intentions are good, and he thinks that _good_ is the best word to describe Galo, that and an idiot, those words rattle around his head on the tip of his tongue, on the precipice of a deja vu but he drifts off to sleep before the thought can be fully realised. In some ways, this is the easiest it has been for him to fall asleep since there is no constant voice on loop in the back of his head chanting _ burnburnburn _, and he feels safe in this stingy apartment, something about the presence on the other side of the bedroom door calms him and for a while, the shakes in his hands improve.

In other ways, this is the hardest it has been for him to fall asleep only due to Galo’s apartment being so much colder than his body is able to regulate. He wakes up after only a couple hours, his whole body shaking and shivering from the cold, a new experience for him. He thinks he has been colder than this before, but trying to grasp that memory turns it to ash in his hands and it slips through his fingers, dying the same way the Burnish are — _ were _— destined to die. 

He does not realise he has moved until he is opening the door, his small frame able to cross the living room soundlessly and while the door creaks, the sleeping silhouette shows no reaction so he continues forward towards the double bed. He lays down slowly, his back resting against Galo’s, something about their proximity just feels right but he can’t explain how he knows that, doesn’t even know how he knows this.

He is back on the couch in the morning.

If Galo noticed the added weight to his bed at 3:21am, he doesn’t mention it.

If Lio noticed the way Galo grasped for him in his sleep as he went back to the couch at the crack of dawn, he doesn’t mention it.

△ △ △

A few evenings later, after all the Burnish had been freed from their fuel pod cages and being treated for their wounds in makeshift hospital tents scattered around the perimeter of the wreckage, Galo takes Lio back to the core. 

Their footsteps echo in the empty hull, shards of glass from the core scattered across the ground, looking almost like snow from a distance.

“This is what the Foundation were doing with the Burnish?” Lio says, the hatred in the back of his throat burns as he speaks.

Galo nods, “Yeah, he was using the Burnish as a fuel source, most of them survived but…” he trails off, he didn’t need to finish it for Lio to know what had happened.

“I knew he was doing experiments but I never imagined this.”

“If it makes you feel better, you stopped him! Well, we did! But it was your idea and a lot of it was your doing!”

Lio sits down in the empty core, dusting the area off first and hoping nothing he touches is ash. “How?”

“Oh jeez, I was told not to tell you too much in case it’s overwhelming but this is the last place I can think of to help jog your memories so yeah, why not just tell you the incredible story of the Lio de Galon?!” 

So, they sit there in the core that they once stood in just four days ago, and Galo tells him the whole story. Galo acts it out dramatically, his arms waving wildly around his head, gesturing the attacks they pulled off in the Lio de Galon against the Krazer X. Maybe he embellished his own parts a bit, but what Lio doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

It still doesn’t work. Lio still doesn’t remember anything, nothing comes flooding into his mind and he still knows nothing, the time he last remembers slipping further and further away into the smoky haze in his mind. Maybe this is his life now, living with a burnt out part of his mind, the memories singed at the edges and disintegrating away into ash, the way he was meant to go.

“Galo Thymos, why do you care so much about my memories?”

Galo puts his hand on his chin for a moment deep in thought, a feeling of something like magma rising up deep in the back of his throat threatening to overflow. He isn’t sure, or maybe he is sure but he just doesn’t want to admit it. But he does really care for Lio, he has only known him for a little under two weeks now, but he feels as if he has known Lio for years already. He feels as if Lio’s burning soul was made for his firefighter soul, two sides of the same coin, sparks lit from the same flint. 

“Without them, you’re not you y’know, and the Burnish need you to be you right now,” Galo says, his brain thinking what he is too afraid to say — _ I need you to be you _.

Those words, said and unsaid, linger in the air like smoke as they sit there in silence, Galo desperately trying to think of anything else that could reignite Lio’s memories, and Lio just trying to stop his damn hands from shaking, it spreading down to his leg.

He stands, wondering if movement will calm his nerves. And then he falls.

Galo hears the small thud he makes as he hits the ground, and looks up to see Lio unmoving on the ground. To say he panics is an understatement. His first aid kit is on his bike, but that is outside the ship and he can’t leave Lio here alone to go get it, and there’s noone around to get it for him. He gathers his thoughts, breathes the smoke out of his lungs and clears his mind, remembering his training. He has done this before, here, just a few days earlier.

CPR, that is what will work here. He doesn’t have Lio’s flame to light his heart back up, so he hopes it will work anyway — a small part of him wonders if Lio will ever be conscious when their lips touch — and gets right to work. Compressions first — _ onetwothreefourfive _ — he really hopes this works — _ sixseveneightnineten _ — the Burnish people still need Lio, they have been asking for him constantly and Burning Rescue have tried their best to be transparent — _ twentyfivetwentysixtwentyseven _ — Lio can’t die now, he needs to be able to see the world he helped create — _ twentyeighttwentyninethirty _. Rescue breaths. Galo presses his lips to Lio’s and blows, the first does nothing and he falters for a second. 

The second, however, goes much better. Lio moves, his eyelids flutter and his arms move upwards grasping out for something he cannot seem to grip. Galo, satisfied with a job well done, goes to move away to give Lio room to sit up comfortably, but he feels two small hands pulling him down instead. Lio snakes his hands up Galo’s back until they reach the back of his neck, his eyes open and looking at Galo as he brings him back down, their lips pushed together by the ferocity in Lio’s grasp and Galo feels that same burning feeling deep in his heart, in his soul, and now he thinks he understands.

“I remember it all now, Galo Thymos.” Lio says between kisses that he controls, Galo’s strong hand on Lio’s waist, “I remember your Matoi armor and sparring you on the rooftop. I remember telling you to remember my name in the cave. I remember the underwater bunker, and the Lio de Galon. I remember dying and I remember you bringing me back, I remember burning the whole world with you and I remember making it better.”

“Galo Thymos,” he continues, as he stands up from the dusty ground, “I remember you.” He pulls Galo back in for another kiss, his hands solid and steady, the shaking finally gone.

Galo smiles against his lips.

If anyone noticed them holding hands as they leave the wreckage, they don’t mention it.

They do mention the fact they are rarely seen apart again in the new world they helped create.

**Author's Note:**

> this is pure self indulgence since noone had written this au yet and i wanted to read it, be the change you want to see in the world and all that. stay tuned for a timeloop au im working on too! i havent written in years so i hope i am not too rusty and that if you made it this far you enjoyed it!
> 
> find me [here](https://twitter.com/woahrebecca) on twitter!


End file.
